Scotlund's Blog

From Hell on Earth to the Arms of Compassion

Our work at Animal Rescue Corps takes us behind the scenes of some of the worst animal abuse in the country. I often find myself walking into puppy mills, hoarding situations, fighting animal confines and other cases of large-scale cruelty that could only be described as Hell on Earth. Most people will never experience these horrors first-hand, so it is our mission to rescue the animals, expose these harsh realities and inspire the highest ethical standards of humanity towards animals.

This approach of combining hands-on action with public education is especially effective when it comes to combating the cruel puppy mill industry. Recognizing the importance of working together, ARC partners with law enforcement agencies and other animal protection organizations throughout the U.S. and beyond to shut down these inhumane mass-breeding facilities. Each of our partners is motivated by a common outrage at injustice and a passionate desire to make a lasting difference in their communities. We are often overwhelmed with an outpouring of support when people learn of the hidden atrocities that had been taking place so close to home. Citizens come together to donate supplies and their time but they are also deeply affected by the animals’ stories and they return home to spread the message to their friends and families, widening the circle of compassion for animals.

Together, we have waged war on the industries that profit from animal suffering and will stop at nothing until all are free, but the fight is just beginning. We estimate there are approximately 15, 000 puppy mills across the United States. Which translates to one puppy mill within 20 miles of every American household. These facilities breed approximately 4 million puppies a year. Puppies born in mills are often in poor health and then sold to unsuspecting members of the public. They are often sold over the Internet, in newspaper advertisements, at flea markets or through pet stores. Consumers, purchasing puppy mill dogs and supporting this barbaric industry, themselves become part of a disturbing cycle of abuse. While the puppies escape these mills early, breeding dogs do not escape until they can no longer produce profitably.

The breeding mothers are the true victims of the puppy mill industry. These dogs are treated as a cash crop, kept in tiny, filthy cages for their entire lives, forced to churn out litter after litter of puppies. These mother dogs receive little or no veterinary care, grooming, bathing or human affection and often have never even felt the security of solid ground beneath their feet. This is an especially cruel fate for man’s best friend, a species that for thousands of years has stood loyally by our side.

Puppy mills not only cruelly confine and neglect the dogs enslaved there, they also have a negative impact on this country’s pet population problem. Millions of dogs are born in puppy mills every year, while millions more are killed at shelters across the country. With countless dogs imprisoned by this industry at this very moment and so many waiting in shelters for their forever homes, it is impossible for most people to grasp the magnitude of this issue, which is why ARC makes an effort to tell the stories of individual dogs we rescue.

It is the ultimate goal of ARC to put an end to all animal suffering and we are working every day towards this lofty goal. I know that we have a long road ahead of us, but compassion is our primary driver and we are motivated by the injustice inflicted every year upon billions of beings capable of suffering. There is no greater feeling than removing a breeding mother dog from the only life she has ever known – one cramped inside a wire cage living in her own feces – and finally showing her compassion and security. Without our intervention, these dogs would continue to be locked in constant confinement and forced to breed for the rest of their lives, if you can even call that a life.

We will continue to shoulder the mantle of compassion and fight against those who wish to harm the animals of this world. Even if you can’t be out in the field with us as we lift these animals out of darkness and into the light, you can do your part to put an end to this industry. I challenge you, through your personal and professional lives, to take your own talents and knowledge of this suffering to find creative ways to join us in putting an end to the many horrific abuses of animals in what we call a civilized nation.

9 Responses to “From Hell on Earth to the Arms of Compassion”

How do we stop these mills…They are all over the South. I’m in North Carolina and wonder now if the Amish, some have relocated here in the Western part of the state..are they running mills? We have to have influence on the market. If there is no market, the business has got to go under. I will never stop fighting. Thank you Scotlund and Animal Rescue Corps.

I believe 4 yrs ago I may have purchased a puppy mill yorkie, I purchased him online & as you say the pictures they entail are deceiving, However, no excuse for ignorance. That will never happen again!! I have 4 dogs, one of which was dumped in a rural area & it took us 4 hrs to catch him but, he has now had a loving home for 5 yrs. My husband & I are now devoted to help saving lives & foster as many as we can for a local rescue! I did have the opportunity to help with donating items & a little time to the warren county dogs, I only wish I could have done more. I recently adopted another that I was fostering because I couldn’t stand seeing him stressing the disruption in his life. It just astounds me how inhumane some people can be. A few of our fosters were found in dumpsters, How does a person justify throwing a life in a dumpster. I Truly appreciate everything ARC stands for & is doing to correct the thought that an animal is not a breathing life & deserves love & compassion. I will continue to donate through monetary donations & if ARC is ever in the Nashville area again I’ll be there! Thank You so Very Much!!!!!!!!

The Amish are notorious for running puppy mills and in general abusing their animals, including their horses. There have been instances of them beating a horse to death on the road when it fell down from exhaustion or heat prostation. They have been known to debark dogs by shoving wood sticks down their throats and ripping their vocal chords. And these are religious people. They better really hope that there is no god….because if there is and they are treating his creations this way, they are in a heap of unredeemable crap. Anyone who is not a showing breeder has no business producing puppies to sell. I have seen these ads..most of these puppies don’t even have the proper vaccinations to start out life without the possibility of contracting distemper or parvo or some such disease. They also expose their unspayed females to pyrometra, a horribly painful condition with an equally horrible death, and unneutered males to testicular cancer. They are greedy, unfeeling, uncaring, in it for a buck miscreants. They will sell a puppy which they misname a “designer” dog (read mutt – and there is nothing wrong with mutts) to an unsuspecting purchaser for hundreds of dollars more than you would pay for a good quality puppy. Then you are stuck with a puppy who has been badly bred and will probably get sick and then cost you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in vet bills. They don’t even have the moral character to feed, water and vet these animals off of whose backs they make their money. The puppies are usually taken from their mothers too early and develop behavioural problems…there is a lot to be learned from a mother dog and litter mates. I have had puppy mill dogs and they were genetic nightmares. I loved them as much as I love my purebred dogs and they should never have had to enter life in the conditions they did. These people need to be shut down, fined heavily and put out of business. They are unconscionable and I loathe everyone of them and would do anything in my power to enter their reign of misery.

Very good post Joanne S. I too volunteer at our local shelter and foster. I currently have a Cavalier here that is obviously a puppy mill mom that is no longer producing. Her teeth are horrible, she doesn’t know what to do on grass and yet she wags her tail and seems happy to just be with us. We so need to shut these house of horrors down.

What you can do is post on every internet site selling puppies, a warning about puppy mills and backyard breeders. Craigslist, Kijiji, anything free that sells puppies. The public needs to wake up…if there is no demand, there is no supply. This is one of the things that makes me angriest in life. Imagine being born, living your entire life and dying, alone and unattended, from a treatable disease and in pain, in a box maybe, if you are lucky, 2 feet by 3 feet. Having to drink water that has turned green with algae, if you are lucky enough to have any. Never knowing if you are getting a meal today, tomorrrow, this week. Never being let out to play, becoming so compulsive that you chase your tail round and round and round into madness. Standing on chicken wire all your life, in feces and urine or if you are one of the unlucky ones, having it rain down on you all the times from the cages above. Having your hair grow into the wire of the cages so you are more trapped than you already were and now cannot move at all and must urinate and defecate on yourself and sleep in it. We don’t treat people who molest and kill children with that degree of cruelty. Why these guys??? Because some social misfit wants to make $35 selling a puppy to a broker. We can band together to put them out of business…nothing would make me happier.

Texas is trying to pass a law against “roadside” sales of animals. That would include Flea Markets and parking lots sales. It will we hope slow some of there people from breeding over and over. This sort opf law should be nationwide.